Bras selected as the symbol of his restaurant the finely divided leaf of cistre, which in English is called baldmoney or spignel.
Lovage's old name of bladder seed owes less to its diuretic properties than to confusion with its Scottish cousin, spignel or baldmoney, corrupted from Balder, the Apollo of northern myths.
Highlanders used baldmoney or spignel to give food a spicy flavour and also chewed the roots as a stimulant and to relieve flatulence.
Origin
Late Middle English (denoting the gentian; now only Scots): of unknown origin.